


Operation Rolling Thunder

by LastCorsair



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Mecha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26297953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastCorsair/pseuds/LastCorsair
Summary: Reborn into an age that has all but forgotten about Grimm, Dust, and Huntsmen, Team RWBY will need new weapons to fight an army of Grimm-worshipping cultists.
Kudos: 2





	1. Operation Disco

Sergeant Jaune Arc sighed as he gazed out over the burning remnants of the town. Not long ago Vanguard had been a thriving small town, a new industry in gravity Dust bringing wealth and prosperity to what had been a sleepy little burg in the middle of nowhere. Now it was a shattered ruin, a dying remnant of what it once was. Fires still burned in parts of the city from the Outer Dark attack days before; there wasn't the manpower available to handle all the fires. Those fires they had managed to put out still smoldered, adding more smoke into the stifling night air. At this point, he figured he'd be smelling smoke when he was three days dead. Clean laundry and showers were nearly forgotten luxuries. What water they had was needed for drinking, and that was dwindling rapidly between the town's defenders and the few civilians that remained.

He sighed. He was a dead man walking, him and every trooper with him, plus every man, woman, child, and probably dog, cat, and rat in the town. The only question left really was how fast it took the Outer Dark to kill them. But damned if he wasn't going to take as many of the bastards with him as possible.

The sound of the roof door behind him brought him out of his maudlin reverie. "Saved you a spot. And a beer, probably one of the last ones in town. It's cold, even. Don't know where Ren found them, and I'm pretty sure I'd rather not know."

Lieutenant Pyrrha Nikos stepped up to lean against the parapet next to him. As always, she was as neatly made up as the situation allowed, even still wearing a touch of makeup. "I will agree with you about not wanting to know where they came from. And I'll take the beer." Nikos took a deep pull of the beer. "A dark ale. Not my usual taste, but it goes well with our imminent demise, don't you think?"

"Pyrrha-"

"Don't, Jaune." Pyrrha's composure broke, and she met his gaze, tears welling in her eyes. "It's all over. We've done all we can, slaughtered countless numbers of them and their Grimm, but still, they keep coming. And we haven't been reinforced, and there's no way we can evacuate. Even command has admitted we're a lost cause. Our new orders are to 'hold our position until relieved.' So don't lie to me and tell me there's still hope."

"Yeah," he admitted with a sigh, turning his eyes once more towards the burning corpse of Vanguard. "I just didn't want to hear it from you, too." He slid his hand along the parapet, intertwining his fingers' with Pyrrha's. "Shitty part is, I'm never going to get the chance to introduce you to my family."

"Seven sisters, plus the woman formidable enough to bring all of you into the world? I think I might almost prefer to face the Outer Dark." They shared a laugh, a dry, gallows chuckle, and Pyrrha leaned into Jaune. "I love you, Jaune. I wish we could grow old together."

"Same here. And I love you too." After years of dancing around their feelings for each other, they'd finally taken the plunge a month ago. Jaune cursed their cowardice. Regs be damned; he should have told Pyrrha how he felt a long time ago.

The moment was shattered by new explosions at the edge of the town. "Damn, can't even finish a beer around here. I'm gonna complain to the local tourism board." He turned to go, only to be stopped by Pyrrha's hand on his arm. "Jaune...just in case I never get the chance, the answer would have been 'yes'."

He nodded and the two of them bolted down the stairs from the roof of the town hall that had become their impromptu headquarters. They were met by Corporal Ren coming up the stairs, breathing hard from running but serene as always. "Sorry to interrupt your private time, but they're back in force. Think this might be it, this time."

Jaune grinned. "It's all good. Everything that needed to be said got said. Everyone moving into position?" Ren nodded. "Good, thenwe're go forDisco, unless the lieutenant has a different idea?" Nikos shook her head. "Let's roll."

* * *

Beyond the town, a convoy of four colorful vehicles thundered through the night. "Are you sure about this, Ruby? It looks like we'll be too late."

"I'm sure."

"How sure?"

"Sis, I'm the second-surest I've ever been in my life."

"And what would be the surest you've ever been, hmm?" a third voice came sharply over the channel."

"Weiss, don't be dense. We have to do this sometime," came a fourth voice, weary of revisiting a discussion that had been done to death.

"I know, I just...I wish there was another way to do this."

"We're out of options." Ruby's voice was firm. "And they're out of time."

* * *

Arc charged out of the front of the town hall turned command post, running towards a waiting jeep. "Jaune, wait!" Lieutenant Nikos was running down the steps as he skidded to a stop. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a kiss. _What the hell,_ he thought as he leaned into her for a moment, _it's not like everyone doesn't already know._ They pulled apart and he whispered to her, "I love you. See you in Valhalla."

"I'll save you a seat," she replied, blushing at what she had done. He laughed and jumped into the jeep as she ran back into the command post.

The Outer Dark had come for one final dance. Pity they didn't realize that they weren't the one picking the music.

* * *

When Jaune reached his position, his troops were already firing into the oncoming ranks of the Outer Dark infantry and the Grimm they brought with them. He cursed. Before the rise of the Outer Dark, Grimm had almost been consigned to the realm of extinction, with only a handful of them appearing every year. Now the shadowy beasts accompanied all but the smallest of Outer Dark forces. Well, tonight they would find something new to fear.

"Let's hear it for history books, everyone," he shouted, and those troops within earshot responded with a grim rumble of laughter. "Let them hit the barricades before we trip the trap," he whispered to Corporal Valkyrie. The redhead nodded with crazed satisfaction. She'd been there since the very beginning, she was more than ready to make the cultists pay.

Carefully timed rate fire sprang from their firing positions, not the rapid crazed fire of panicked troops, but the slow, steady fire of professional troops who know they're going to be there a while. Grimm and cultists fell, the Grimm dissipating into smoke, the cultists twitching on the ground as the last of the life fled their bodies. Much as he loathed to admit it, Jaune felt a sick satisfaction in the cultists' deaths, given how many comrades of his they'd sent to their deaths.

Winchester dropped down next to Arc in his fighting position. "They've got us surrounded, Sarge, they're everywhere!" he shouted, panic evident in his voice.

"Good, we've got them where they want us," Arc yelled, back, not even flinching as a near-miss sent fragments of masonry close enough to leave scratch marks on his face.

"Maidens, ever since you and the Lieutenant started screwing-" Winchester stopped as Arc's pistol appeared in front of his eyes. He hadn't even seen Arc _move_ , much less look in his direction.

"Don't. Go. There," Jaune's voice was low and steady, which oddly enough was more terrifying than anything else Cardin Winchester could imagine right then. "Winchester, if you'd been paying attention the last few days instead of screwing off as normal, you'd know what's about to happen. As it stands, I'm considering shooting you myself and adding your corpse to the barricade around my position. At least then you'd be some use."

"My father-"

"-Is much further away than my pistol. Choose." Cardin gulped and backed off, taking a place near Arc and opening fire on the enemy. Jaune had to stop himself from laughing; as far as he knew, this was the first time Corporal Cardin Winchester, scion of one of Atlas's finest families and sentenced to penal military enlistment for things Arc really didn't want to think about right now, had actually fired upon the enemy in combat. Will wonders never cease?

He stared through the smoke from the burning town and the battle, trying to gauge the best moment to spring their trap. "Come on, come on, let's dance you bastards," Arc muttered under his breath, earning him a puzzled look from Winchester, who turned his attention back to the enemy when Arc glared at him. He held out his right hand and Valkyrie put the trigger in it, resting her hand on top of his and giving it a squeeze, careful not to hit the button. "See you all in Valhalla!" he yelled as the 'right' moment finally came and his thumb came down on the detonator switch.

The flame fougasse is a horrifically simple weapon, at its most basic consisting of a fuel oil drum set on its side with an explosive charge at the base to simultaneously propel and ignite the fuel. When detonated, they can spew burning oil in an area up to ten feet wide and thirty feet long. The troops under Arc's command had spent the last several days rounding up every drop of fuel oil and drum left in the town and building fougasses in every building that wasn't already on fire, concentrating on main streets near their position.

The result was... _horrific_.

Grimm _screamed_ as the flames engulfed them, not their normal hunting cries but what Arc could swear were screams of agony as they burned away into nothing. Cultist troops and vehicles were set ablaze, the unlucky ones falling to the ground, screaming and writhing as they tried to put themselves out. The lucky ones died instantly. Arc could see an improvised assault vehicle ahead of him turn over, bodies spilling out of the back hatch, the interior an inferno; one of the fougasses must have caught them as they were opening the hatch to deploy.

"Think they're going to be mad at us?" Valkyrie chuckled as she checked her rifle.

"They can put it on my tab," Arc smirked with a laugh; the fougasse had been his idea. "Alright, pass the word: Hold position until I say otherwise. Keep an eye on the firebreak; we don't need the fire crossing into out position. If there are any left, they're going to be coming in really pissed off, so be ready."

"You might even say they'll be... _flaming mad,_ Sergeant."

"One more pun like that, Valkyrie, and you're cleaning latrines for a week."

"Awww, I didn't know you cared."

"Huh?"

"If I'm cleaning latrines for a week, that means I'm _alive_ in a week, doesn't it?"

Arc laughed, then flinched as there was movement in the smoke, and he felt his blood run cold. _It couldn't be..._ But it was. Coming out of the smoke and the flames were more Grimm, big ones this time. First up was a Creep two stories tall, and behind it, a Deathstalker wide enough to fill a four-lane street.

_They had a second wave._ For a moment, he cursed himself for setting off the trap so early, but then realized it didn't matter anyway. The first wave would have been enough to finish them if it hadn't been decimated by the trap. "They held their heavies for a second wave," Arc muttered, barely aware he had spoken aloud until Winchester asked him, "So what do we do now, Sarge?"

"Die, I guess. The trap was a Hail Mary; I got nothing else."

Winchester checked his rifle, seeing how many rounds were left. "Hey, Sergeant, just so you know: I fucking hate you. I almost want to shoot you myself."

Arc shot Winchester a gallows grin as he checked his own weapon. "Just save the last round for yourself, Winchester. You know what these bastards do to prisoners."

All around them came the crackle of rifle fire as the troops entrenched around them began tofire at the titanic Grimm. Not that it would do much good; against a Grimm that big, rifle fire was like shooting spitballs at the sun. but it it was the principle of the matter more than anything. Better to die with a rifle in your hand than screaming on a cultist altar. Arc was holding his fire, waiting for a good shot at the Creep's face, when the incredible happened.

The titanic Grimm went flying to one side, crashing to the ground.

Jaune blinked. _What the hell...?_ Then he saw it, and shook his head, a dry, rasping chuckle in his throat.

What had knocked the Creep to the ground was a variable-configuration (VC) construction mech. Someone had driven it into the Grimm's legs as a last-ditch effort to stop the cultist advance. The robotic construction machines had the mass and power to go toe-to-toe with big Grimm but lacked agility and mobility. Every attempt to use them in combat hand ended in utter failure. All Arc could think to do was salute the poor brave fool at the controls. _Wish I knew your name, buddy, but all I can think to do is salute you when I'm dead._ They'd even taken the time to paint the thing. Usually, construction mechs were some bright safety color; this one was black with red trim. _Where'd they get that much black paint in town?_

Then the machine unfolded from its vehicle-like travel configuration to its humanoid working form, and Arc's jaw dropped. Normally mechs moved slowly, ponderously, but this one moved more like an ebon, angry god of war. It assumed a waiting stance as the Creep rolled to its feet, facing the mech and giving a thundering Grimm hunting cry. The mech responded by turning its right hand palm up, making a _Come at me, then_ sort of gesture

The Creep roared and charged, hitting the mech hard enough to make its feet slide backward, digging furrows in the broken asphalt. In response, the mech dug its hands into the sides of the Grimm's neck, just behind its snapping jaws and flipping it over the mech's head, piledriving the Grimm into the ground, shattering its bony skull and killing it, leaving the Grimm dissolving into mist.

"Get out your scroll," Arc hissed at Winchester. "Get some video of this."

"Already on it, Sarge. Figured a story like this with proof, I'll never pay for my drinks again."

"You, me, and everyone else here," Arc laughed. "Winchester, you know more about high society and doing things properly than I do. Is it proper to propose to a lady in the middle of an inferno?" The two men shared a laugh as they watched the mech turn toward the Deathstalker.

Apparently, the Deathstalker had more on the ball than the Creep had. The scorpion-like Grimm scuttled back and forth, claws snapping, looking for an opening. Its tail snapped forward, only for the mech to catch it in both hands before the Grimm could pull it back. The Grimm's claws snapped at the mech's arms and legs, trying to free itself to no avail. The mech just _ripped_ the huge Grimm's tail from its body, leaving the wound streaming smoke as it threw the tail aside and brought both hands down on the Deathstalker's head, stunning it for a moment as the mech brought its hands down for a second and then a third blow, sending the Grimm to the ground to start to dissipate.

The mech wasn't done yet, though. What Jaune had thought was some sort of safety bar or something on its shoulders turned, facing out towards the edge of town. It spoke with a _crack_ of thunder, and he realized it was some sort of cannon, though not any type he'd ever seen or heard of. An explosion matched the cannon's fire and it spoke three more times, explosions matching each one.

Its work done, or at least stopped for the moment, the mech turned toward Arc's position. A figure climbed down a rope ladder from the cockpit, and as they came closer, Arc could see it was a young woman, her hair black with red highlights, and wearing a jumpsuit.

She smiled. "So, who's in charge around here?"


	2. Operation Reunion

Lieutenant Winter Schnee gritted her teeth and hung onto her straps tighter as the airship wove its way over the mountain pass towards the town of Vanguard. She looked across the compartment at her boss, General James Ironwood, who rode the airship's movements effortlessly, his face as implacable as the mountains they were flying over while he once again reviewed the report Lieutenant Nikos had sent. "How do you do it, sir?"

Ironwood looked up, a twinkle of amusement few would have noticed if they hadn't known him well in his eye. "'Do it', Lieutenant Schnee? Do what?"

Winter could have given any number of answers to that question, really, but one, in particular, came to mind at the moment. "Ride an airship under circumstances like this without getting tossed around so hard, sir."

"You're too stiff, Schnee. Loosen up, accept the airship's movements and adjust yourself to them, not the other way around." Ironwood looked toward the front of the airship, raising his voice to carry up to the flight deck. "How much longer until we arrive?"

Scarlatina answered him distractedly. "Twenty minutes, more or less. Sorry for the rough ride, the wind over these mountains is double hell."

Ironwood nodded as he settled back in his seat. Winter knew that he kept Scarlatina and Adel as his personal pilots for their skill and honesty with him. He couldn't have given a damn about their relationship or that Scarlatina was a Faunus; the general was refreshingly free of many of the prejudices that were common in the Atlesian military. Once a Colonel had questioned his choice of Winter as his aide, given that she'd become an officer through OCS and there were more 'suitable' officers that had attended Atlas Academy. Ironwood had flatly replied that he had more confidence in Winter's ability to do the Colonel's job than he did the Colonel's.

"So what do you make of this, Lieutenant?" Ironwood asked, tapping his report and breaking Winter's reverie.

"I'm honestly not sure what to make of it yet, sir.'' Winter shook her head. "When the report came in, I had a look at previous attempts to use mechs in combat, including the spectacular disaster that was Project ARKOS. Mechs are just too damn clumsy for use in combat. If this Ruby Rose has cracked that, then we've got a whole new weapon to use against the OD."

"And the video footage they included?" Ironwood tapped the video disk that had been attached to the report.

"Honestly, that's the only thing that gives this thing some credibility, sir. Admittedly, it's all shot with scrolls, so the quality of the footage is low, but in a way, that makes it more believable. So many troopers, different angles, different models of scroll, it makes this more credible than one perfect video would have, sir."

Again Ironwood nodded. Nikos's report had included multiple videos of the combat mechs that had saved the lives of those that under her command. Most mechs were, as Schnee had said, clumsy in combat, more so that wheeled or tracked vehicles at times. The videos included in the report had shown these unknown mechs engaging in hand-to-hand combat against large Grimm with all the grace and power of martial arts masters. Winter and Ironwood had both been skeptical of the footage, despite how much of it there was; Ironwood himself had assigned two separate analysis teams to go over the footage, with strict instructions not to discuss their projects with each other. Both teams had come to the conclusion that whatever the source of the footage, it wasn't faked.

And so the supreme commander of the Atlesian Alliance's forces on the Mistral front was riding an airship over treacherous mountain terrain to a town that had been half reduced to rubble, first by the forces of the Outer Dark, then by its own defenders, to see with his own eyes irrefutable physical evidence.

The airship broke out the mountains, swooping down into the valley towards the remains of Vanguard. Seeing it herself from the air, Winter shuddered. The town was such a smoldering mess that it seemed unlikely to be rebuilt after the war, assuming the war ever ended. She thought it much more likely that the survivors would resettle elsewhere.

"Hey, boss," Adel called out from the flight deck. "You said to keep an eye out for construction mechs. Think I see some off the port side."

Ironwood unstrapped and looked out the window, Winter right next to him. Sure enough, three construction mechs were helping unload the long-delayed supply convoy Ironwood had sent ahead. Two of them were black, the third was yellow. It was hard to tell from this altitude, but they looked to be moving more fluidly than mechs usually did. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on Winter's part. She frowned; weren't there supposed to be four of them? One of the black units stopped to wave at their airship like an ordinary person might wave to someone. "Thoughts?" Ironwood asked as the airship circled around to come in for a landing.

"Not sure, sir. They seem to move faster than most mechs, but that doesn't translate into combat mobility."

Lieutenant Nikos and a worn-looking young sergeant were waiting at the improvised landing field to meet their airship when it landed. "General, thank you for coming."

"Given your report, I felt the need to see this for myself. So, are those them?"

"Three of them, sir. Unit 02 is in the hangar for maintenance."

"Are they everything your report says they are?"

Nikos grinned. "I think this is a show, don't tell, moment, sir." She keyed up walkie-talkie to her lips. "Ruby, I think the general's ready for his demonstration."

"Roger," came a cheerful young woman's voice, and the black mech with red trim set down its load, then did a back-flip, landing with its arms outspread like a gymnast on the mat. "Well?"

"That could be pre-programmed," Winter interrupted before Ironwood could speak.

"Agreed, although I think a pre-programmed routine wouldn't be that fluid. I'm going to need more convincing than that, Lieutenant Nikos."

"Pick two units, then."

"That one"—Ironwood gestured at the red-trimmed black unit that had done the back-flip— "and that one." This time he gestured at the yellow unit that was farther away than the other black unit, which he could see had purple trim.

"Ruby, Yang, tower of power." Again the black-and-red unit sprang into motion, this time cartwheeling into a back-flip that landed it on top of the upraised hands of the yellow unit.

Ironwood couldn't help the surprise that showed on his face. "Now that does impress me. Could I get a brief explanation of how this 'unique control mechanism' you mentioned in your report works? I'm curious."

Nikos nodded. "I'll let Ruby explain it; that's her baby after all."

A slight young woman was waiting for them when the walked into the disused Dust warehouse the mechs were using for a hangar, standing between the black unit from earlier and a white unit with pale blue trim. Her hair was black with red highlights, and she wore a jumpsuit with RWBY-01 on the right breast. "It's a pleasure to meet you, General Ironwood. I'm Ruby Rose, the pilot of Unit 01, and inventor of the Aura control mechanism. Thank you for coming, sir."

"Pilot and inventor? I am impressed. So, explain how this 'Aura control mechanism' of yours works, as simply as you can."

Ruby shrugged. "In a nutshell, it works on the same principle as high-end prosthetics. They work by manipulating the recipient's Aura, convincing them the prosthetics are part of the person's body."

"I'm aware of how they work, Miss Rose." Ironwood held up his right hand flexing it. "I have some myself."

"Sorry, didn't know. Well, what the new control mechanism does is similar. It forms a temporary bond between the pilot's Aura and the mech, letting them control it like their own bodies. Naturally, the pilot does need training in Aura manipulation, and it gets easier with practice."

"How easy is it to form this bond? Does the pilot feel the damage to the mech, like their own bodies were injured?" Winter's questions were clipped, direct.

"They do 'feel' the damage, but it doesn't register as pain, exactly, more of a loss of sensation. There are buffers in place to prevent sensations from the mech overwhelming the pilot. As for how easy it is to form the bond, that's hard at first, but it gets easier with practice. Yang, Blake, Weiss, and I can do it under a minute, but obviously, we've had lots of practice."

"Weiss?" Winter frowned. It was an uncommon name, but still, it had to be a coincidence.

"Weiss Schnee, our fourth pilot. She's performing maintenance right now. Hey, Weiss!" Ruby yelled up at the white unit's cockpit. "Come on out! Let them meet the whole team!"

A white-haired young woman stuck her head out of the cockpit of the white unit, then did a double-take as she spotted Winter. "Winter? Is that you?"

"My name is Winter, yes. Do we know each other?" Winter frowned. The younger woman was familiar, but Winter couldn't quite place her.

"It's me, Weiss." Weiss climbed down from the cockpit of her mech, stopping in front of Winter. She wore a jumpsuit almost identical to Ruby's, except hers said RWBY-02. "Oh, it is good to see you again, Winter!" Weiss hugged Winter, startling the normally reserved lieutenant.

"Lieutenant, do you know this young woman?" Ironwood's voice held a hint of amusement.

"I believe this is my younger sister, Weiss, although I haven't seen her since my father disowned me. That was, what, ten years ago?"

Weiss nodded. "I remember the fight you and Father had. Oh!" Weiss's face lit up with the brightest smile Winter remembered ever seeing on her sister's face. "I got married, should probably tell you that first. Winter, this is my wife, Ruby Rose. Ruby, this is my older sister, Winter."

"It's-" was all Ruby had a chance to say before Winter turned towards Weiss with a snarl. "So that's it. That's why you betrayed me. I thought we were close, but it turns out you're no better than Father!"

"Winter I have no idea-"

"No, and I don't expect you ever will!" Winter pulled back he hand, to punch Weiss, or maybe slap her, she didn't know, and most likely never would, because before she could complete the motion, she felt herself getting grabbed from behind in a come-along hold. "Let's go, princess. Seems like you need to cool off."

As she was dragged outside, Winter could hear Ruby saying, "Don't worry, Yang used to work as a bouncer, she's used to handling rowdy people without hurting them."

"Alright, let's hear it." Winter found herself thrown against the outside wall of the warehouse. "You haven't seen your sister in ten years I hear, so what in the hell could set you off that fast and that quick?" Winter looked up to find a truly Amazonian blonde woman glaring down at her, arms crossed over her impressive bustline. She wore a jumpsuit like Weiss and Ruby's, although hers bore the label RWBY-04 and was unzipped to the waist, showing off the black tank top underneath and the woman's toned stomach.

Winter schooled herself; this was no time to be admiring the other woman's physique. "I... may have acted rashly. It's a family matter, and I don't want to involve you."

The blonde snorted. "From what I hear, your sister's married to my sister, so that makes it a family matter for me too."

"Ruby is your sister? But you two don't look alike at all."

"Same dad, different moms, raised as sisters by our dad. Now, spill." Yang leaned over Winter, smacking her right hand into the palm of her left, and Winter couldn't help but notice that her right arm was prosthetic. "Or I get to go apologize to Weiss for beating up on her big sister."

"What has Weiss told you about me? About how I lost my place as heir to the Schnee Bank?"

"Not much. I knew she wasn't close her family. Hates dad, mom's gone, brother's a slimy little shit, and her older sister—that's you, I assume—disappeared years ago after a fight with your dad." Yang glanced toward the front door of the warehouse; from the corner of her eye, Winter could see Weiss standing there, scowling. "Listen, Weiss needs this. She sank her whole trust fund into this project before your dad cut her off. So make some peace, okay?"

Winter nodded and took a few steps toward Weiss, hesitating. It'd been ten years since they'd seen each other, what if the time apart had been too much? They'd been as close as two sisters could be before she left, but after the fight with Father, and Weiss staying out of it... A shove from behind spurred her into motion once again, and Winter found herself standing in front of Weiss, who stood there scowling at her. "Well?" Weiss snapped.

"I apologize. No matter what the situation is, that was a very unprofessional way for me to handle it."

"Apology... provisionally accepted. Pending an explanation." Weiss gave a short, sharp nod. "Now explain yourself."

"What do you know about the argument Father and I the night I left?"

"Nothing." Surprise must have shown on Winter's face, from the quirked eyebrow she got from Weiss. "Mother kept me upstairs, where I couldn't hear what was going on, all I could hear was yelling. The next morning, Father called me into his office and informed me that you had been disinherited, that I was now the heir to Schnee Bank. Neither he nor Mother would ever discuss it."

"Father... learned something about me that I considered very private, something of which he disapproved." Winter sighed. "He learned I was having a relationship with another woman, and insisted that I break it off immediately and select what he considered a 'suitable husband' within a year." She scowled. "Father even had a list of suitable candidates for me, young men I'd sooner slit my own throat than marry."

"And when I told you I was married to Ruby..."

"My mind leaped to the assumption that you had sacrificed me that night in order to save yourself."

"Winter..." Weiss hesitated, glancing inside to where Ruby and Ironwood were talking, pointedly ignoring the sisterly drama happening in the doorway. "Winter, Ruby was the first person I ever felt _anything_ for. First relationship, first kiss, first _everything._ So, please, let us be sisters again. I've missed you. Now come along"—Weiss hooked her arm through Winter's, dragging her startled sister toward Ruby and Ironwood—"I want to give you a proper introduction to my wife, and show you our new shiny toys. These things kick ass."

* * *

"...and that's everything, ladies, and gentlemen." Ironwood wrapped up his report, the wallscreen in his office covered with images of the members of the Atlesian High Council, interspersed with pictures of the mechs, frozen video clips of the mech, testimony from troop who had seen the mechs in action. "Your thoughts?"

Jacques Schnee was the first to stir. "Much as I hate to say this, I think I'm going to have to recuse myself from any further discussions about, although I do want to be kept informed. My daughter Weiss is involved in this project, and our relationship is... very poor. I don't want that interfering with this. But I do want to say that I am impressed by the hardware I see here. I think it might have the potential to turn the tide of this war." Jacques's image winked out, leaving the rest of the council there.

"I'd like to hear your opinion, first, General. You've been very careful in how you word things as if you were trying to avoid influencing the council's opinions."

"Like Jacques, I'm very impressed with what I see so far. Keep in mind this was built on a minimal budget, and the mechs used are modified civilian models. I'm curious to see what purpose-built mechs using this new control setup would look like."

"What's your recommendation as to how to proceed?"

"I've taken the liberty of arranging transportation for the mechs, the development team, and the contents of their lab to the Beacon Advanced Research Center, pending this council's approval. There the hardware and research can be evaluated by Director Ozpin and his staff. Once we have their assessment and recommendation, we'll have a better idea on how to proceed."

* * *

Ozpin sat in his office, looking at the information Ironwood had sent him. "The world must be in dire trouble indeed if these four have been brought together again."

"Sir?" Assistant Director Goodwitch looked at him sharply. "What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"Never mind. Please make sure lab seven is prepared for the arrival of Mrs. Rose and her team. Use your discretion as to what equipment you think she'll need, but let her know she's to ask if there's something specific she needs. There are also some military personnel who will be arriving, both accompanying this Team RWBY and arriving later. Make sure they're squared away with the security commander."

Ozpin turned to look out the window at the scattered buildings of the Beacon Advanced Research Center, or BARC as it was known. "I think we will find the time Mrs. Rose and her team spend here very interesting indeed."


	3. Operation Exhibition

Ruby shivered as Crescent Rose followed the truck ahead of her through the security checkpoint. This was it now; she and her team were committed. Well, they really had been for a while. Weiss had been backing them for a while, but even the trust fund she had sunk into the project was running out.

And really, it was thanks to Weiss they were here today. This whole thing had started out as one of Ruby's crazy extreme engineering projects. She'd just wanted to build a cool mech, but had gotten frustrated with the controls. Ruby had been slumped over her the disaster area that was her desk, surrounded by holograms of designs for control mechanisms that just wouldn't work for one reason or another. Weiss had brought Ruby a cup of coffee, just the way Ruby liked it, with "blasphemous amounts of cream and sugar" as Weiss put it and asked what was wrong.

"It won't work! I can't get the controls to be good enough for combat!" Ruby wailed.

Weiss shook her head. "From what you've said, it's been tried many times before, Ruby, by people with much more experience than you. If people that smart have tried and failed, maybe it really is impossible."

"Bah," Ruby muttered, sipping her coffee. Weiss had even put a little dab of whipped cream on top. Glorious.

"So what, exactly, is the problem? I don't know engineering, but maybe I can suggest something you missed. Fresh eyes on the problem, if you will." Weiss stepped behind Ruby's chair, putting her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "Explain it to me, in as non-technical terms as you can manage."

Ruby blushed, flustered at Weiss's concern. "The problem is the whole control mechanism. What most mechs use is good enough for construction or industrial work, where precision is more important than speed or agility. But in a fight, a mech needs to be a lot more responsive, and the mechanical controls just can't keep up. I've gotten some information about military mech projects from, uh, 'unconventional sources,' and it looks like most of those hit the same wall."

Weiss snorted. 'Unconventional sources' indeed! Weiss knew damn well Ruby had gotten the information from some of her shady hacker friends, and that some of it was classified. It was just like Ruby to try and spare Weiss's feelings though. She leaned down to wrap her arms around Ruby from behind, enjoying the physical contact. "So you're trying to come up with something besides the mechanical controls? Well, how does Yang's arm work? Is there something there we can use?"

"Yang's arm? That's a prosthetic, not a mech..." Ruby stopped mid-sentence, her hands on top of Weiss's, a thought kindling in her mind. "See, that works by integrating itself into her Aura, convincing her body that it's part of it, letting her Aura flow into the prosthetic. A person's Aura can't extend over a whole mech."

"Maybe it doesn't have to talk to the whole mech, just part of it, and that part can talk to the rest of it. Or there could be some sort of relay or extender or something? I don't know."

Ruby's eyes had been drifting shut, savoring the contact with the woman who had unexpectedly become her best friend, but now they shot wide open as what Weiss had said exploded in her brain. "Weiss, that's it, that's brilliant!" Ruby spun her chair around, breaking the contact with Weiss, only to throw herself out of the chair and wrap her arms around Weiss. "Oh, you've given me a wonderful idea, Weiss. I think this will work."

The white-haired woman stiffened at the unexpected contact, then relaxed and let herself enjoy it, wrapping her arms around Ruby in return. Her therapist said she was making vast improvements in opening up to others emotionally, and not freaking out when someone touched her, especially without warning. She sighed softly and inhaled, Ruby's scent filling her nostrils. Why did Ruby always smell like her favorite flower, roses? "Ruby... would you go out to dinner with me sometime?" Inwardly, Weiss flinched. Why did _that_ have to come out _now?_

"We eat dinner together all the time, Weiss."

"N-No, I mean, like on a date."

Weiss could feel Ruby stiffening in her arms, but she didn't pull away. "Are-are you saying you _like_ me, Weiss? As in _like_ me _like_ me?"

"Yes." Best to be certain, decisive about this. Honesty with herself and others about her feelings was best. There was no reason to be terrified of her feelings, or of showing them. "Lately, I've come to realize that I... care for you as more than a friend. I would like to...explore that."

Ruby chuckled softly into Weiss's neck even as she remained wrapped around Weiss. It was just like Weiss to be so...formal about something like this. "I...I'm not sure Weiss." She felt Weiss start to pull away and wrapped her arms tighter around the other woman. "That is _not_ a rejection, but this is...unexpected. I need to think about this, and we'd need to take this slowly, okay? I've never dated another woman before."

"Y-You're ahead of me. I've never dated _anyone_ before."

"Not anyone? What about high-society parties? Didn't you have dates for those?"

"I went with an escort sometimes, yes, but we weren't 'together' in that sense. I never met anyone that felt... _right_ before."

"And I do?"

" _Yes,"_ Weiss whispered, and Ruby could hear the anguish and the fear in Weiss's voice. She knew how emotionally isolated Weiss had been growing up, and how hard it had been for her to learn to open up to others. Ruby pulled back just enough to look Weiss in the eye, silver orbs meeting pale blue. "Hey," she said, making sure to maintain as much contact with Weiss as possible, "dating is complicated. It's a whole bunch of surprises and you never really know what you're going to get. So we take it at whatever pace we want, and work things out as they come, okay?"

" _Okay,"_ Weiss whispered again, a hint of a smile on her lips, tears welling in her eyes. Weiss was beautiful, Ruby thought, the only flaw in her porcelain beauty the scar over her left eye. She didn't know how Weiss had gotten that scar, but she resolved to find out someday.

* * *

Ruby's train of thought jerked back to the present as she braked reflexively, stopping her mech from running over a pedestrian who didn't have the sense not to walk out in the road in front of heavy machinery. Wistfully, she looked at the ring that adorned her left hand. Well, she and Weiss had 'worked things out,' hadn't they? Their rings were even twins of each other, Ruby's with a blue diamond and Weiss' with a ruby.

" _Everything okay, sis? You braked kinda hard there,"_ Yang's voice came over the radio.

"Just daydreaming a bit," Ruby replied, "and trying not to run over someone who wasn't looking where they were going."

" _Dolt,"_ came Weiss's voice over the radio from behind Yang. _"Stop daydreaming and watch where you're going."_

"Okay, I'll stop daydreaming about you and watch where I'm going," Ruby replied, starting forward again as Weiss spluttered into the radio.

" _How long have the two of you been married again?"_ Blake asked as the convoy rolled forward through the campus of the Beacon Advanced Research Center, or BARC as they'd been told to call it.

" _Back off, Blake,"_ Yang said before Weiss or Ruby could reply. _"Or I'll start up about you and Sun. How many times have the two of you broken up and gotten back together?"_

Blake's only response was to growl before breaking the connection. Her on-again, off-again relationship with Sun Wukong was a really sore spot with her. When the convoy stopped again due to something Ruby couldn't see ahead, she took a moment to look at the buildings around her. The brick buildings rising around her were bustling with activity. Ruby knew that a lot of high-end research went on here, civilian and military. She'd never even dreamed of getting a job as a lab tech here, yet today shed be presenting something _she'd_ invented. Her, Ruby Rose, a nothing girl from sleepy little Patch, of all places! "And I owe it all to you, my beautiful ice flower," she muttered.

" _You don't owe me anything, Ruby,"_ came Weiss's reply, making Ruby blush as she realized she'd said that over an open channel.

" _If I may interrupt, it's 'game face time,' as you might say. The lead vehicle has reached our destination."_ Winter's voice had a dry humor to it. _"Apologies for the driving in circles, there was apparently some confusion as to where we were supposed to be."_

The sign on the gate read 'Heavy Equipment Facility,' and the hangar they were directed toward fit the bill. All four of their mechs could have driven through the door side-by-side with room to spare. A green-haired man was waiting for them, positively vibrating with energy. "Ah, Miss Ruby Rose, what a lovely pleasure to meet you! It is Miss Rose, isn't it? The information I was sent failed to mention any official degrees you've been granted, although it certainly seems as if you've piled up enough engineering knowledge to warrant at least a few. I'm Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck."

Ruby laughed. "No, never could stand still enough to get a degree, just kept moving around, tinkering with this and that. And it's Mrs. Rose, I'm married."

"Ah, yes-yes! Indeed. And that lovely white-haired woman in the uniform over there must be your wife, Weiss. My apologies, Mrs. Rose."

"Uh, no, that's Winter, Weiss's older sister. Weiss is the one climbing out of the white mech over there." Ruby winced. How could anyone mistake Winter for Weiss? "Winter!" she yelled, "bring the case! This is Doctor Oobleck, he's one of the people we're supposed to give the presentation to."

* * *

Weiss stood at the far end of the room with Blake and Yang, watching as Ruby gave her presentation. She frowned. Admittedly, she didn't know much about how to give a technical presentation, but Ruby seemed to be answering a lot of the questions with 'I don't know' or 'It's possible. "She's doing badly," Weiss hissed at Yang.

"Nah, she's fine," Yang whispered back, "I've sat through some of these with her before. You learn to read the flow of it, even if you don't know what they're talking about. They mostly like her work, they're bringing up new avenues of research and possible applications. I think. This one's a bit thick even for me."

"Gentlemen, ladies, I do apologize for being delayed. An accident this morning warranted my attention." A man with black hair going gray at the temples strode in, a severe-looking blonde woman following behind. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Director Ozpin. You must be Mrs Rose, the young lady who's brought us something new under the sun." Ozpin tilted his head, looking Ruby in the eye. "You have silver eyes this time," he muttered. If Ruby had been standing a foot further away she would have missed it.

"Have we met before, sir?" she asked, stopping herself from taking a step backward. There was something decidedly _unnerving_ about this man.

"No, I don't think so. Please, continue. I'll try and catch up." Ozpin and the blonde woman (Goodwitch, Weiss thought her name was) sat at the table, watching the conversation between Ruby and the people seated around the table. Finally, the main discussion seemed to have wound down, with a few people exchanging light conversation between them. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, what's your first impression?"

A portly man with a mustache that probably needed its own zip code answered first. "I think it's safe to say that Mrs. Rose's invention shows great promise. She's certainly been remarkably thorough in her research so far, given that she's been working alone and with limited resources. I look forward to working with her." Nods and murmurs of agreement followed from the others assembled, and Weiss breathed a sigh of relief.

"Very well, then. Please don't take this the wrong way, Mrs. Rose, but I'm sorry to say you won't be the head of the project here to expand on the work you've done." Ruby frowned and started to speak, but Ozpin raised a hand in a gesture to wait. "You simply don't have the administrative background to organize a project like this, or a full grasp of the resources available. For example, did you know we have the prototypes from the DAGON, SABRE, and ARKOS projects all stored here?"

"N-No sir."

"We do. And I think I'll make them available to your project. You may be able to convert them over to your control system. And those mechs were built with combat in mind, unlike your prototypes in the hangar. Now Doctor Goodwitch has agreed to head the project, with the understanding that you will report directly to her. I expect regular progress reports. And as anyone here will tell you, I prefer honest admissions of failure to lies of success." Ozpin stood and most of the others filed out behind him, leaving Goodwitch and Team RWBY alone.

"Infuriating man, saying 'run and play' and leaving me to sort out the details." Goodwitch pushed her glasses up her nose and looked at Ruby. "Well, Mrs. Rose, where would you like to begin?

"Ad-administrative stuff, I guess? I mean, like Ozpin said, I don't know what's available, so maybe that's where I should start. Like is there somewhere that can build electronics to order for us?" Ruby laid a hand on one of the Aura extender units sitting on the table that she'd used in her presentation. "Like these. These are good, but they were built pretty much by hand, and I'd be willing to be that a good electronics shop could build the next generation ones I've been working on faster and better than I can. Or the improved interfaces. And then I want to test all of _that_ in one of the mechs we brought with us. Better to test on a platform I know the performance of."

Goodwitch nodded. "A reasonable first course of action. We can move to working with the prototypes from earlier combat mech projects later."

* * *

Ruby looked up as she signed for the shipment of parts. Goodwtich was adamant about Ruby learning the administrative part of things. "The world runs on paperwork, Ruby. Master it or it will master you."

"Okay, that's everything that should be here. Thank everyone at the shop for us."

The man nodded. Like most projects at the BARC, he had no idea what this particular project was, and he didn't really care. At least the ladies involved in this one seemed more grounded than most of the scientist working around here.

Ruby turned to examine the activity around the once-deserted hangar with a mixture of wonder, pride, and amusement. Over there, Weiss was teaching techs how to install and tune the Aura extender units. The sight made Ruby smile. When she'd applied for the receptionist job at Ruby's 'lab,' Weiss had never worked a day in her life, much less done anything that involved _tools_. Oh, the horror of manual labor!

Over there, Yang was working with some technicians to convert one of the SABRE prototypes to the Aura interface. Weiss's sister was helping her, passing tools and getting her hands dirty too. Ruby tilted her head just a bit, thinking. Over the past couple of weeks, Winter had developed a tendency to be near Yang. Nah, probably Ruby's imagination. The older Schnee sister had been assigned by General Ironwood as his liaison to the project. Her job was to handle any military aspects of the project. And if she hung out with Yang, turning a wrench between problems, so much the better.

Now, where was Blake? Ah, there she was. Blake was stomping back into the hangar from one of the side doors with a scowl on her face. Ruby could practically smell the cigarette smoke from here. Sun must have called. After his last 'visit,' Ruby had banned him from her old lab, and even here she'd quietly let security know he wasn't welcome in the lab or the hangar. Blake leaned up against her mech, banging her fist on it in frustration. Ruby shook her head and started pushing the cart towards the storage room. Time to get these put away.

The sounds of a scuffle at the main door caught her attention. "Look, I'm just looking for Lieutenant Schnee. That'd the be the older Schnee, got it? Not the one that's married to Ruby Rose, the other one. Keeps her hair up in a bun, not a side-tail. You let me talk to her, I'll let him go. And yeah, I know this is a restricted area, and this is all classified. Seen it all before, chuckles. Oh, there she is." Striding across the hangar floor was Sergeant Arc, shoving a security guard in front of him in a hold that looked decidedly painful. Lieutenant Nikos and Corporals Arc and Valkyrie followed along behind, with expressions that ranged from mortified (Pyrrha) to amused (Nora).

"Sergeant Arc, would you care to explain yourself?" Winter's stance snapped into full military formality as she stepped over to the little parade. "And let him go before you break him."

"We're under orders to report to you here, ma'am." Jaune let the guard go, snapping a parade-ground salute. "And it's Warrant Officer Arc now. Somebody figured I know my shit and sent me off to Warrant School. Chuckles the Clown here didn't want to let me talk to you to report in, so I 'persuaded' him. Threatened to shoot us if we didn't piss off." Winter glanced at Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora, who nodded in agreement.

"I see. Well, I applaud your restraint if he did indeed threaten to fire on you for trying to report in. And I will need to verify your orders. Do those orders specify what your duties here are to be?"

"Unfortunately not, simply that we are to report to you." Pyrrha was standing at parade rest, staring straight ahead.

"Hmm. Mrs. Rose, do you think we could use them as test pilots?"

"Any martial arts training? Particularly involving Aura manipulation?"

"I do but, Arc, Ren, and Valkyrie don't, as far as I know." Jaune, Ren, and Nora confirmed Pyrrha's statement.

"You know, sis, sooner or later we've got to train someone who doesn't have that kind of training to use this hardware. I think we've got our first volunteers." Yang stood next to Winter, arms crossed.

"Alright, assuming your orders check out, welcome to the RWBY Project."


	4. Operation Tempest

The heavy transport airship powered through the howling storm, using its overpowered engines to keep it on course. "Two minutes to drop," came the pilot's voice over the intercom, cool and collected. In its belly, its cargo shuddered in the red light, holding steady in place despite everything the storm could do. "All units, this is Sabre One. Report when ready."

"Sabre Two, online." Weiss's voice was calm and steady.

"Sabre Three, ready." Blake's voice was smooth and mellow, the kind of voice you'd expect to hear from the late-night DJ on a jazz station.

"Sabre Four, ready to rock and roll." Yang sounded positively anxious to get into action.

"And Sabre One reports ready. All Sabre units ready." Ruby fought down her own nerves. They'd trained individually and as a team, but today wasn't just training.

"Thirty seconds to drop," Adel's voice came over the intercom again.

"Everyone ready?" Scarlatina's voice followed in the wake of her girlfriend's.

"All Sabre units report ready to drop. Begin drop at your convenience." Ruby took a deep breath and braced herself. This was gonna suck.

Their airship dropped down to barely twenty feet off the deck, opening its rear cargo door. Almost immediately, Yang's mech was pulled out by its drag chute, followed by Blake, Weiss, and finally Ruby. The airship pulled up hard, almost before Yang's mech had come to a stop. "Archangel, this is Sabre One. All Sabres down and safe. Moving to target."

The four Sabres shifted from transport mode to combat mode, hefting the autocannons they carried as rifles and moving into the ruined town. Sabre Three was the first one to reach the buildings, kneeling down behind the burned-out remnants of a fuel station and covering what looked like a main road. "Clear. No contact," Blake reported, scanning the ruins. "I don't like this. Too many places for rats to hide."

"Don't worry, kitty cat. That's what we're here for." Yang moved to the other side of the road, taking cover behind a battered warehouse.

"Guys, radio discipline, okay?" Ruby and Weiss moved up behind Blake and Yang. "Alright, move forward by the numbers. Report all contact, I don't care if it's some guy sneaking out to take a piss. Sabre Three, you lead off."

Blake grimaced, but took her Sabre forward, swearing at the storm. Infra-red was useless, low-light kept getting blinded by the lightning. All that left was normal vision, and that was little better than nothing. A flicker of movement caught her eye and she threw her mech into cover. "Contact!" she yelled as the first RPG slammed into the office building she was hiding behind. Blake raised her rifle and raked the area the RPG had come from. An explosion rewarded her efforts. Good, got them.

The rest of the team moved up, leaving the smoldering remains of the enemy position behind them. There was work to do, best to be about it.

* * *

Weiss pulled her mech back into cover. Dammit, their advance was well and truly stalled by the enemy rocket position. "If I go forward, I'm going to get nailed," she spat into the radio.

"Ideas?" Ruby called back, firing a burst blind around the corner to keep the enemy guessing.

Weiss looked up the side of the parking structure she'd taken cover behind. A wicked thought slid into her mind, almost ashamed of itself. After all this time, Team RWBY had forgotten something fundamental about mechs: they were shaped like people. "I've got one. Yang, give me a boost."

Weiss rolled on top of the parking structure and started low-crawling her mech across the roof, doing her best avoid the few remaining vehicles on the roof. She didn't care whether she destroyed them or not, she just didn't want to give away her position doing it.

She reached the other edge and poked her mech's head up slowly. Good, she was right where she wanted to be. "Okay, I'm here. On three, open fire and I'll catch them from up here. One, two, three!" Weiss popped her mech up on its elbows, firing over the low wall at the roof's edge towards the rocket position. Below, her teammates blindly opened fire as well, operating on the 'spray and pray' principle. The building below her spat fire, a missile streaking away toward Ruby's position, and Weiss zeroed in on the launch point. raking the building with her autocannon. "Got them!" she crowed in victory, only to have her words become bitter ashes in her mouth at the sight below.

A wave of Grimm came spilling out of the building she'd just fired on, ranging from Boarbatusks to Beowolves and Beringels of truly impressive size. "Grimm! Lots of Grimm, and really big ones too!"

"No kidding!" Yang yelled as she and Ruby raked the street with autocannon fire. Her rifle jammed, so Yang decided to improvise. She picked up a wrecked car in both her mech's hands and started swinging it around, smashing it into Grimm until it broke apart in her hands. Swearing, Yang grabbed the two biggest pieces in her hands and kept smashing Grimm. A Beringel stopped in front of her, beating on its chest and roaring. She met its charge, grabbing the simian Grimm by both its arms and spinning around to absorb its charge, then suplexing it over her mech's head and driving the Beringel into the cracked asphalt, killing it and scattering the smaller Grimm around her. "NEXT!" Yang roared over her Sabre's loudspeakers, and the Grimm around her were happy to oblige, swarming the blonde brawler's mech. Yang laid into them with a fury, the _plasmafausts_ built into the reinforced forearms of her mech sending blast after blast of plasma into the Grimm.

Ruby laughed at her sister's antics even as she shifted her own rifle into its polearm configuration. She stabbed an Alpha Beowolf in the chest with the blade, then ripped the blade upwards, splitting the Beowolf in half. Even as the Beowolf hit the ground and started to dissipate into smoke, Ruby was whirling her polearm around, crushing a Creep's head with the weighted butt end. She struck a pose with the polearm behind her back for a moment, laughing now at her own whimsy, then whirling the blade around to scythe through a pack of Boarbatusks.

Meanwhile, Weiss had her own problems to deal with. The Grimm on the ground had been joined by Grimm in the air, and the airborne Grimm were surrounding Weiss's exposed position on the roof. She was downing as many of them with her rifle as she could, but there were simply too many and they were moving too fast. Sighing, Weiss racked her rifle on her Sabre's back, then extended the chainsword built into her mech's left forearm. She extended the blade to maximum length then set herself in the path of a Nevermore swooping down at her. Dodging the winged Grimm's barrage of razor-sharp feathers, Weiss slashed at its wing, sending the Nevermore tumbling off the edge of the roof. Whirling, she relaxed her blade, letting it become whip-like, then rolled under a Lancer hovering nearby. Weiss sprang to her feet, snapping the blade around the insect-like Grimm's abdomen, then pulling back hard on the flexible blade, slicing open its abdomen and killing the Lancer. She grinned. At first, Weiss had thought the idea of adding a 'signature weapon' to her Sabre silly, but eventually Ruby had worn her down. It was the puppy-dog eyes, they got to her every time.

Blake swapped her rifle for the Dust-enhanced mecha-scale katana Ruby had made for her. Unlike Weiss, she had thought that close-combat weapons for their mechs were an excellent idea. And customizing each of their weapons to suit their martial arts training? Even better. Now she squared off with a King Taijitu, the doubled serpent Grimm's heads both weaving back and forth as the Grimm assessed its opponent. Suddenly the Grimm struck, both heads coming at her at once, the King Taijitu trying to give her no avenue of escape. She leapt upwards, coming down to the left of where she'd started, stabbing the serpentine Grimm in the eye and driving her blade deep into its skull.

As she pulled her blade out, the white head began to dissipate, but Blake knew better than to celebrate yet. A movement in her peripheral vision made her whirl around and jump back, narrowly dodging the black head's retaliatory strike. Blake brought her blade to a high guard position, only to have the Grimm come at her low and fast. She rolled to her right, bringing her blade down on the King Taijitu's neck only to have it skitter off the Grimm's scales. The Grimm reared over her, and Blake decided to take a chance on a normally impossible tactic. As the snake's head darted down to strike, Blake simply drove her sword into the top of its mouth, through the Grimm's brain, killing it. She stood in the dissipating mass of the serpentine Grimm, one corner of her mouth lifting in a smile. To think, Sun had tried like hell to talk her out of this. She'd never felt more alive.

A massive roar echoed across the ruined city, even over the storm, and the four Sabre pilots turned to meet a new threat. An enormous draconic Grimm circled overhead, and it was all Ruby could do not to roll her eyes. This was overdoing things a bit, wasn't it? "Ozpin!" she yelled over the general channel, "if you're going to cheat to win the test, at least be a little less obvious about it? Dragon Grimm aren't even a thing anymore."

The Dragon froze, and Ozpin's voice came over the radio. "My apologies, Ruby. The no-win scenario was at General Ironwood's insistence. He wanted to know how you four would handle utter defeat."

"Easy, fight till we can't fight anymore," came Yang's laconic reply. "If you're doomed, go down swinging. Can't get any worse, right? And there's always a chance, no matter how slim that chance may be."

"Indeed." The storm flickered out of existence, and they were instantly standing in the late morning Vale sunshine, surrounded by the shattered husks of Grimm drones. "Back to the hangar everyone. Our visitors insist on meeting the team that has brought us so wonderful a gift. Possibly over lunch, given the hour."

* * *

"Alright everyone, bright smiling faces and maximum charm, we're on display now," Yang muttered as their visitors stepped off the airship from which they'd observed that morning's training sim.

"I am capable of being extraordinarily charming," Weiss replied aristocratically. "You, however, will have trouble heeding your own advice, brute."

"Hey-!"

"Behave, both of you." Why did Weiss and Yang have to fight so? Honestly, _Blake_ got along better with Weiss than Yang did.

Winter and General Ironwood were the first two to arrive. "Congratulations on your performance this morning. Outstanding. At first, I thought the addition of the close-combat weapons to mechs was questionable, but it seems I was mistaken." The general extended his hand. "Well done, Mrs. Rose."

"And configurations on figuring out the sim was rigged as well. Speaking of which—" Winter jammed Ironwood in the ribs with an elbow, and in reply, he fished out a hundred Lien note and handed it over—"thank you for making me a hundred Lien richer."

"One might doubt the wisdom of being _too_ forceful in collecting a debt from your superiors, Lieutenant Schnee," General Ironwood remarked airily.

"Nonsense, General, I am merely reminding you to set a good example for your subordinates and honor your debt. Besides, Both Director Ozpin and Deputy Director Goodwitch were witnesses, plus assorted guests. I don't want you to sully your reputation by welshing on that public of a bet, do I?" Winter's face darkened, and she glanced at the visitors filing out of the airship. "There's...there's something you need to know, Weiss. Whitley is here, and he's got a message for you from Father."

Weiss could feel panic creeping into her veins, icy cold. When last she'd seen him, Whitley had been practically a mirror image of their father, and given how things stood between them—! "Thank you for warning me, Winter. Any idea what he wants?"

"None. And here he comes now." Their younger brother was indeed approaching, followed closely by an older man that to Weiss's eye looked to be an upper-management type, talking rapidly at Whitley, who kept shaking his head.

"Ah, Weiss, there you are. It's good to see you again. And this must be your charming wife, Ruby Rose." Whitley was smiling, and when Ruby extended her hand for a handshake, he took it without hesitation. "Please, can I have a word with you in private?" he whispered to Weiss. "Father sent me as his representative for this demonstration, but there's also family business to discuss."

Weiss nodded, and led Whitley to one side, waving off Ruby when she started to join them. "Alright, Whitley, what's going on? What poison did Father send you to spew at me?"

"First, from me... Father is not well. His doctors are pushing him to retire, but he's fighting it. He wants to make sure the company is in good hands first." Whitley sighed, glancing over at where Ruby was now arguing with Ozpin and Ironwood, Winter standing nearby with an annoyed look on her face. Well, annoyed for Winter at any rate. "And I'm not sure he thinks my hands are the right ones. In fact, I think he'd much rather have Winter back to run the company but she's otherwise occupied for the foreseeable future. Lately, Father has been using me more and more as the public face of Schnee Bank. In private, he's much more...well, you know how he is." Whitley drew himself upright from the slouch he'd started to sink into, clearing his throat. "Anyway, Father says to tell you he's sorry. And to let you know that if the project needs any help he can provide, let him know and he'll see what he can do."

"He's...sorry? That's what he has to say, that he's _sorry?_ Whitley, do you know he hired thugs to break up me and Ruby's wedding? Or that he put me _and_ Ruby on the mailing list of every dating service in Vale? Honestly, not approving of me and Ruby being together is one thing, but the rest of it is just... _petty."_ Weiss looked over at the Ruby again to see that the representative from Khyber Heavy Industries had joined the discussion. "Honestly, the only help we really need right now is good lawyers. Khyber keeps trying to get us to hand the Sabre units back over to them, including all the modifications we've made. I'd bet that right now Solstice is over trying to bully Ruby into doing just that."

"I'll pass that on. Also, I'm hoping you and Ruby will join me for dinner tonight before I have to fly back to Atlas. My treat, if that's a concern to you. Father may have qualms about the two of you, but I don't share them."

"I'll talk it over with Ruby. No promises." Meanwhile, the man from Khyber had stormed off, leaving Ruby, Ozpin, and Ironwood having what seemed like a much more civil conversation.

* * *

Winter wandered over to where Blake and Yang were talking excitedly about the test. "Man, that was intense! Stabbing that Kaijitu through the roof of its mouth! What were you thinking, Blake?"

"I was thinking there was no way I was going to dodge its strike, so I might as well go out with a bang. And what about you? Using that car as an improvised weapon?"

"Hey, no dangerous things, just dangerous people, remember? I felt like improvising. Hey, Winter, what's up?"

"I was wondering if I could have a private word with you, Miss Xiao Long. Alone," Winter added, glancing at Blake.

"No problem." Blake tapped the e-cigarette sticking out of the breast pocket of her jumpsuit. "I kind of wanted to step outside for a moment anyway."

"Sooo," Yang drawled after Blake had left, "What's on your mind, Ice Queen? Asking to talk to me alone, that sounds kind of serious."

"The matter is rather personal in nature. Since the project began, I have become very...fond of you. And I'm starting to wonder if we could come to share a deeper connection."

"Say what?" Yang was confused. Why couldn't Winter just spit out whatever was on her mind?

"I'm trying to ask you out."

"Oh." Yang was still really confused, but now she had an idea of what to be confused _about._ "I uh, you're all right and all, Winter, but I don't think about you like that, you know? I'm sorry."

"I see. I'm sorry to have bothered you, Miss Xiao Long." Winter turned to leave. Things like this had never come easily to her. She'd had to psych herself up to ask Yang out, and all for nothing.

"Yang."

She stopped. "Excuse me?"

"My name is Yang. Listen, I'm not angry, Winter, just surprised. Didn't realize you thought about me that way, okay?" Yang hugged Winter from behind, and it was all Winter could do not to sink into that gentle strength. "I'll think about it, but no promises. So, did you have any ideas for this theoretical first date? Need to know how fancied-up I'd need to get."

Winter laid her hands on top of Yang's, inhaling the blonde's scent. "I had something more low-key in mind. Your normal everyday wear should suffice."

"Mmm. And what about you? What are you going to wear?"

"Not my uniform, obviously. I do own other clothing. And the event I specifically have in mind is next Saturday." Winter's brain was rapidly turning to mush. Yang smelled so _good,_ how did she not notice this before? "What do you use on your hair? It smells so...delightful."

"Hey, you have your secrets, I have mine. Okay, one actual mysteerious date. And maybe a lunch or two before then."

"That sounds...good," Winter finished weakly, then started to pull Yang's arms from around her. "And now I have to get back to General Ironwood. No doubt he's finding this all quite amusing."

"Ironwood? Pfft, he's an old softie. Just tell him you were asking me out. He'll clam right up because he doesn't know what to say." Yang leaned a little closer to whisper in Winter's ear. "And if, if, we continue with this, we're going to give him lots to be embarrassed about. Count on it."


End file.
